k closing announced

get it while you can (that is lift served skiing). killington has announced the cancelation of the trialthon and a may 1 closing. this will be the earliest close since 1973-74 when they closed april 30. it is possible that bretton woods who have said they intend to stay open into early may could beat killington which would be the first time in my memory that that has happened. anyway from the k website read it & weep:

Due to snow and trail conditions, we regret that the 16th Annual Killington Triathlon scheduled for May 13th has been cancelled for this year.
Killington Resort, which averages 250 inches of natural snowfall annually, has only received 191 inches of snow this season. In addition, Killington usually receives more than 60 inches of snow after March 1st and this season has only brought 24 inches ? the lowest amount in the past 20 years.
The final day for skiing and snowboarding at Killington Resort this season will be Monday, May 1st conditions permitting.

davidwh_us@yahoo.com":r4suz70o said:

Global warming! In 10 years, replace "May 1" with "April 1." In 20, "March 1."

Or maybe it's just a fluke. Doubt it, but I'll hold out hope.

Well, at least I know the K will be open this weekend, when I'm going.

Thanks for the news.

Click to expand...

It's not global warming, they had worse years in the past. ASC just didn't make much snow this year.

awf170":378bomnc said:

davidwh_us@yahoo.com":378bomnc said:

Global warming! In 10 years, replace "May 1" with "April 1." In 20, "March 1."

Or maybe it's just a fluke. Doubt it, but I'll hold out hope.

Well, at least I know the K will be open this weekend, when I'm going.

Thanks for the news.

Click to expand...

It's not global warming, they had worse years in the past. ASC just didn't make much snow this year.

Click to expand...

Don't blame ASC so fast. St.Sauveur mentioned that they were closing late April, they have been closing in May for the last x amount of years. Ah yes, Sunday River (okay, so there ASC) closed today.

Yes, the snow total might not be that bad, HOWEVER something that isn't mentioned is that all the snow that was lost during the numerous warm spells.

From my personal Eastern experience since I've been old enough to drive around to get my last season turns (1981-82):

1) There have always been a few ski areas opened in May. Okay, some areas might be cutting back (but that not all it). The opening of the season was later that usual, forget that freak snowstorm in October.

2) Most areas in the past (except K and St.Sauveur) have been closing with great coverage due to lack of skier, not this year. I'm amazed that Whiteface was open this weekend. If you were smart, you add to remove your skis a few times at the bottom. I was at Tremblant today, I rarely seen so little coverage this time of year.

Yes, it's been a bad year. Unfortunately the evidence point to the fact that the Earth climate is warming up, especially in our part of the continent and the northern and southern latitudes.

i posted this on AZ, but i think it is worth throwing into this discussion to in relation to a bad winter and how long K stays open: according to this page....
http://www.killington.com/endless_winter.html

during the 1991-1992 season, kmart received a season total snowfall of 198" (only 7" more than the current season) but managed to stay open until June 14th.

previously, kmart did not allow a bad winter to effect them. they are now choosing to play by mother nature's rules and blaming mother nature when in fact they are blowing less snow. doesn't much matter to me, but this will really be the first year since i have been born i think that kmart won't be either or both the first to open and/or last to close as BW as a later closing date than kmart at this point.

Big Jay, you have a point about Kyoto but don't blame everyone. i didn't vote for Bush!! :evil:

riverc0il":2quxic9x said:

during the 1991-1992 season, kmart received a season total snowfall of 198" (only 7" more than the current season) but managed to stay open until June 14th.

previously, kmart did not allow a bad winter to effect them. they are now choosing to play by mother nature's rules and blaming mother nature when in fact they are blowing less snow.

Click to expand...

I find your comments toward K a bit harsh.

We have debate to topic to death here in the past and I've often been critical about K.

But in this case, they have a point. THIS was a BAD winter. Yes, they can blow more snow, however it has to be cold enough to make snow.

I skied Killington on June 1st and 11th in that 1991-92 season. I also skied 4/5 of Sherburne trail on May 7, definitely not possible this year. Currently only the upper 1/3 of it's is open...2 1/2 weeks before my May 92 trip. I also skied in the Laurentians in mid-May that year, that will not happen this year. If I remember correctly, Spring '92 was cold and surfaces didn't melt that quickly. That winter wasn't abnormally warm.

The snowfall numbers only tell part of the story. If the snow doesn't stay and melts away, the snow total isn't really useful, check the extra 4ft that Wildcat got in October. The weather has to be cold to either kept the snow and/or make snow.

In this case (closing debate), the Mount Mansfield stake data would be more reliable.

Comparaison between 1991-92 and 2005-06 (snowdepth on April 12 was similar to May 1).

http://www.uvm.edu/~empact/data/gendate ... 0&totals=0

Eastern early season and to some extent late season skiing is more dependent upon temperature than snowfall.

In upper New England/Quebec average December-February temperatures are very cold and a substantial increase would be needed to really limit snowmaking. I do think October and May skiing in the East will become more rare.

With regard to natural snow, warmer temps mean more water vapor and probably more precipitation overall. I don't have the slightest confidence in model predictions of which local climates will get more or less precipitation. With very low average midwinter temperatures I don't see December-February snowfall decreasing in New England/Quebec.

But for most other mountain climates, the best near-term predictions would be based upon the question: What happens if the typical rain/snow line rises 1,000 feet? For western North America that answer to that question is generally nothing. Of the 94 locations where I have data the Whistler base at 2,000 ft. is the only one where the overall warming trend since 1970 shows up in the form of reduced snowfall.

My meteorologist friend Larry Schick in Seattle has noted that increased moisture capacity of clouds has increased southern Sierra snowpack since the 1990's. I asked if that would apply to the Southwest also. He said no, because it would be offset by a decrease in that region's historically intense spring snowstorms.

There are other regions in the world where the 1,000 ft. increase in rain/snow line is more serious. We hear about it mostly in Europe, where the resort towns are low. Some lower ski lifts will become mostly transport lifts. For what I've seen and read I would think the Australian ski areas would be in some jeopardy from a rising rain/snow line.

With regard to the overall global warming debate I would welcome references and hopefully answers to the following 2 questions:
1) Why did temperatures decrease from 1940 to 1970, given that CO2 in the atmosphere has been steadily increasing since 1850?
2) Given that the above was due presumably to natural and not manmade factors, how do we (or can we) allocate the 1970-2005 warming between natural and manmade factors?

As I suspected, I got a few responses to these questions, so it seemed appropriate to split the topic, with the global warming thread continuing here: http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards ... php?t=2049

riverc0il":2d121bvr said:

during the 1991-1992 season, kmart received a season total snowfall of 198" (only 7" more than the current season) but managed to stay open until June 14th.

Click to expand...

I recall that mid-March through the end of April was unusually cold and snowy. I sked The Chin for the first time on First Day o' Spring and then I recall skiing the Julios Chutes at Killington towards the end of April.

Yeah, closings happen due to lack of skiers - again, where are these people that skied on a single crowded Ribbon of Death comprised of Frozen McSludge in November (and then they piss 'n moan about bad conditions - like duh, you can only do so much at that time of year) and then they disappear in mid-March when they can be making sweet Spring turns in April.

I recall back in the early/mid 1980s, there was almost like a competition to see who could stay open the longest. 1984 sticks out - Killington made it almost to Summer and Hunter, Stratton, Glen Ellen were open well into May. I skied Killington around May 10th, that year - huge piles on the Upper Downdraft headwall and twin barrell coverage (Cascade and Downdraft) all the way down to the Cascade runout.